News: Regulated Rail Fares to increase

Is this a wise decision?

Regulated rail fares in England will rise by up to 5.9% from next March, the Department for Transport has announced.

The rise is being capped at a level well below inflation, "to help reduce the impact on passengers", the transport secretary said. The fares will officially rise on 5 March 2023.

Before the Covid pandemic, fares were raised in January each year, based on the retail prices index (RPI) measure of inflation from the previous July.The normal formula is RPI plus 1%.

However, the government said that rail fare increases for 2023 would be capped at 5.9%, well below July's RPI figure of 12.3%.

Like last year, the government is also freezing fares for January and February, so that passengers have more time to buy tickets at the existing prices.

Reaction

This has resulted in some interesting discussions across social media. George, a pub manager from Manchester, said: "The train services in the country are just not reliable enough. The new fares mean they are just not good value for money."

Chris from London added: "They just love ripping people off don't they? What a joke!"

Fresh strike action recently announced

This news comes in amongst ongoing strike action. Train drivers recently called for a fresh 24-hour strike on 5 January in the long-running dispute over pay and conditions on UK railways.

The action at 15 train operators by members of the Aslef union falls between two 48-hour strikes by the RMT union on 3-4 and 6-7 January, meaning most trains will be wiped out for five consecutive days.